


Don’t you know it’s no good for you?

by imabagofcats



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Gen, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sad Klaus Hargreeves, and Ben wants to hug him, but he is a ghostie and that makes him sad, mentions of child abuse, small number 5 appearance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-08
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-13 16:30:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18035135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imabagofcats/pseuds/imabagofcats
Summary: Klaus is not Okay, that should be obvious to everyone... Except why can only Ben (and Diego) see that?Set after their fathers death but before the day of the apocalypse.





	1. Help me help you

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure where this is going yet but hope it's ok!

Although he doesn’t show it, Klaus is always hurt when his siblings believe that he is a good for nothing junkie. They don’t know that there is a reason why he is never sober – not for attention, not even because it feels good. Because it doesn’t, nothing feels good anymore he is just too out of it to notice. 

Ben is the only one in this dysfunctional family that understands, he doesn’t like it but at least he can comprehend why Klaus drinks and takes so many harmful things. Imagine that, the only sibling that wants to help him and he’s dead.

“Klaus are you ok?” Speak of the devil; Ben squats next to where Klaus is sat outside in the rain, right by bens broken statue. Ben can see how cold Klaus is, shivering and hugging his legs to his chest, wearing those black pants with the lace up the side and his tie-dye shirt – all doing jack-shit at keeping him warm and protected from the rain, he was already soaked to the bone. He longs to take off his jacket and place it over Klaus’ shoulders, if only that were possible.

Klaus jumps, not expecting Ben to be there, which is ridiculous because Ben is always there. “Hey Benny boy, I’m just thinking, it’s thinking weather.”

“Be that as it may Klaus it’s raining and you don’t even have an umbrella, which is annoyingly ironic considering the name of this hell hole. Come on get up so we can go back inside.”

“Feel free to go right ahead, I’m not stopping you.” He tells ben, dismissively moving his arm and waving his hand in the direction of the house. As he went to wrap that arm back around himself Ben noticed scratches on his forearm, raw from what looked like excessive rubbing and scratching. It hurt Ben that he could do nothing to help his struggling brother, sure he can do his best to talk Klaus into not doing something or to calm him down but what good does that do when he refuses to listen. 

“You know if you just told one of the others, any one, I’m sure they would help you, you are clearly struggling Klaus and you should have to go through this alone.” At this Klaus scoffed.

“Unfortunately brother dearest our dear siblings couldn’t care less about what happens to me, if they did wouldn’t you think they would have notice by now? 15 years of being marked off as a lost cause by our own father tends to give the others that effect.”

“That’s not true-“

“Don’t kid yourself sweetums, I stopped caring about what they all think a long time ago.” 

 

Ben let out a deep sigh, it had been this way for as long as he could remember, as soon as the others found out about Klaus’ powers they wrote him off fast thinking of him as useless - Only useful if they ever wanted to commune with the dead, which never happened. The others never understood why their father was so interested in what Klaus could do, what possible use could they get from him?

None of them understood what Reginald Hargreaves had put Klaus through, Ben was the only one who knew about Klaus’ stays in the Mausoleum and that was only because the last time it happened, before Klaus left the house for good, was when ben was already dead. Their father had come for him after he finally fell asleep one night, dragging the lethargic boy right out of bed, down the stairs, and out of the house. At this point in time Klaus was still ignoring Ben’s ghost, not ready to accept that his best friend, the only person who ever cared about him, was no longer alive. It was too soon for him and Ben understood that, he was ready to be patient and wait for Klaus; giving his brother as much time as he needed no matter how much Ben needed Klaus to talk to him.

Ben followed their father and a suddenly terrified Klaus as they headed to what looked like a mausoleum. Remembering how he screamed out at them, asking what the hell he was doing; Klaus cant be there, it’s the last place he should be, it right up there under the ‘Places Klaus shouldn’t go with his abilities’, battling for first place with a hospital. 

If ben had a corporeal body again he knew that his throat would be as raw as Klaus’ probably was at that very moment, while Klaus was screaming for their father to let him out Ben was yelling at all the corpses that wouldn’t leave his brother alone, tormenting him as if he was the reason they were all dead.

So much changed after that; Klaus no longer ignored Ben, finally seeing him. Ben finally got Klaus to open up to him, he told him how long this had been happening for and Ben was _livid_. If he could kill Reginald he would do it without mercy, for everything he has done to them all - especially Klaus.

“Where did you go Buddy?” Ben startled at Klaus’ sudden words, remembering where he was and got back to the issue at hand. “I know what you were thinking about, you had that same look in your eyes that you had the night you followed us to-to _that_ place.”

“Why didn’t you ever tell anyone?” Ben asked, still heartbroken that it took Ben to be dead to find out. 

“You know why. No one would have cared and what good would it have done for anyone? Daddy dearest just would have whipped everybody back into shape and then inevitably punished me more.” 

 

Ben doesn’t know what to say when Klaus says things like this about their siblings. He used to always tell Klaus they cared about him; of course they care they are family. But after being back in this hell house the last few days after the funeral he lost that fight. The others were all hopeless when it came to noticing anyone else’s feelings. 

All of a sudden there was a gruff hand grabbing onto Klaus’ upper arm, dragging him up unexpectedly, Klaus looked up to see Diego standing there, rain soaking his jacket, an angry look on his face, as Klaus flinch away the look in Diego’s eyes swiftly turned into a look of concern. 

“Whoa it’s just me,” He said removing his hand from around Klaus’ arms so that he could raise both his hands to show he meant to harm. “What are you doing out here Klaus? It’s pouring down and you are goddamn freezing.”

“Hi Diego, what can I do for you on this miserable day?” 

“Just get inside, Five needs us all together.” Diego says, noticing as Klaus’ shoulders suddenly drop, as if loosing all motivation to be here. Klaus looked to his right, seeing something that Diego couldn’t see and sighed, allowing Diego to move him towards the entry to the house, hand hovering over his back as he have Ben one last look filled with sadness. 

“Okay.”

Diego was taken aback at the smallness of Klaus’ voice at that moment. He wouldn’t admit it but he was worried about Klaus, he always was, but right now he needed to just worry about getting his brother inside where he can dry off and get warm. He doesn’t have much meat on his bones to keep him warm so the cold always affected Klaus more than it did himself. 

He decides right there that he needed to have a chat with Klaus, after not seeing him for so many years and constantly worrying that the next dead junkie found in a seedy alleyway was going to be his wayward brother, he needed to get a sense on what was going on in Klaus’ head. 

Little did Diego know, Ben was watching both his brothers walk back into the house, hoping that he can get Klaus to open up to Diego, because lord knows he needs someone to help him keep Klaus safe.


	2. I'm Broken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diego and Klaus have a little talk, and Diego vows to himself to change how they treat Klaus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for posting this so late, I have no good excuse i'm just... not good at stuff.  
> I'm a sucker for a protective Diego and Sad Klaus <3

As soon as Diego led Klaus back into the house he immediately manoeuvred his shaking brother up stairs and into the bathroom and nudged him to sit down on the side of the bath. 

“W-What were you d-doing out there bro? It’s been raining all day so it’s not as if the rain was a surprise. You’re goddamn freezing and trembling,” Diego berated him, seeing Klaus suddenly look down at his hands seeming to only just notice his tremors.

“I-I wasn’t thinking sorry.” 

Klaus sounded unusually quiet, this is where he would usually make a joke at his own expense, aiming to annoy his brother further and then walk off uncaringly but this... this was so unlike the pale, matchstick of a trouble child Diego was used too dealing with. Since when did Klaus apologise for being reckless, when did he ever sound so helpless and lost. He didn’t even look like he was high or drunk, the glassiness in his eyes weren’t his usual intoxicated look he always wore; but instead it was more a look of someone who was trying to hold back tears. Why would Klaus be feeling like this? He just looked unfocused and so dejected.

As Diego reached over to turn on the bath, making sure the water is comfortably warm for his brother, “Klaus I want you to talk to me, and no avoiding this I’m worried about you. But first you are getting out of those soaked clothes and getting in the bath before you catch something- don’t look at me like that Klaus your lips are turning blue and you are shaking like a leaf. Now do you think you will need help doing that or can I trust you to do as I say?” at Klaus’ responding nod confirming his compliance Diego continued, “Okay good, now I’m going to go to the kitchen and get Mom to make a nice hot chocolate for us both and I will wait for you in the kitchen ok? Please don’t avoid this Klaus, if you do I swear I will tie you to a chair and make you talk to me. Promise me?” 

Klaus smiled a little at that last bit which made Diego smile back at him, It’s relieving to see that Klaus wasn’t to gone that he couldn’t find Diego’s attempted threat at least a little humorous.

He responds to Diego in the same small voice as before, “Yeah okay, I promise, I’ll be down as soon as I’m finished.

Diego thanks him and softly runs him hand through Klaus’ wet hair affectionately before he turns and heads out the door, closing it. 

 

As Diego sat down at the kitchen table nursing his hot chocolate in both his hands, trying to warm them up a bit as it was almost as cold inside as it was out in the rain even though they have the fireplace running it still wasn’t making a difference. He started to worry if Klaus was coming down, he had been up there for about 40 minutes now, he was already on his second cup and had to reheat Klaus’ cup. His worry of Klaus disappearing quickly evaporated as he could hear the soft padding of his brothers bare feet coming towards the kitchen entryway.

“Hey,” Klaus whispered in greeting as he entered, looking significantly warmer than before, lips no longer blue and the shaking of his hands ceasing a little bit. He was wearing what looked to be an old hoodie, one of Diego’s that he must have ‘borrowed’ before he moved out. He also had on a long pair of black leggings that only emphasised how small his brother actually was. It worried Diego to no end; it had been worrying him for the last 15 years, was Klaus eating enough? Did he have sufficient money to eat? Diego will have to rectify that later but right now he and Klaus needed to have a chat.

“Hey, come sit, I had to reheat it but it should still be fine” 

“T-Thank you… and I’m sorry.” Klaus said as he sat down and cradled his drink, just like Diego had been.

“For what bro? Why are you apologising, you have nothing to be sorry for okay?” 

“I’m sorry I’m so useless to you all, I’m the screw up I know but I never stopped to see how much I was bothering you guys. I’m trying to stop with the drugs and the drinking, and it’s hard, I mean I knew it would be but… I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m not… ideal to have around, or to have as a brother, I am… dysfunctional and I know that. I can’t even help the dead how am I supposed to do anyone else any good? Dad said so himself, I’m a disappointment and I’m broken.” As he finished he could feel hot tears streaming down his cool cheeks, he had asked Ben to give himself and Diego some privacy but he regrets doing that, feeling an ache in his heart for Ben to appear at his side and comfort him. 

Diego was stunned, he couldn’t believe what was coming out of Klaus’ mouth, how had he- no, they fucked up so much with their brother. Their brother who needed them more than the apocalypse. He had been falling apart all this time with no one but the dead to see. As soon as Diego’s brain kicked into gear as he noticed Klaus was crying quietly, not even letting the sounds of his sobs escape his mouth. Diego roughly rose from his seat as if it had caught fire and pulled Klaus into his strong protective embrace. He could feel Klaus’ shoulders shake as he let his wall down completely, allowing Diego to hold him close as he let out all the sadness and despair he had harbouring over the last few years.

“Klaus listen to me, I never want to hear you talk about yourself like that ever again okay? None of that is true and it never will be, I love you so much and I can’t believe I let you get this far into your own head. You are one of the strongest out of all of us. We can’t see what you can see but I know for sure that none of us would be able to handle it. We never took the time to understand how your power works nor how you felt we just wrote you off, I know that and I’m so fucking sorry. I know we can’t change any of the past but I know if we start now then can promise you that you will never be alone again.” Diego tightened his grip on Klaus allowing his head to settle under his own chin as he soothingly runs his hand through Klaus’ hair like he had upstairs. Just like he had seen Ben do a few times when they were children and he left his door open, allowing Diego to see as Ben held a crying and shaking Klaus, similar to how he was now. Ben’s eyes had connected to his own and an unspoken promise was made between them. Klaus needed to be protected, he was too kind, too sensitive for a world like this; a world their father was raising them for. 

He wished that Ben was here to tell him what to do to make all of this better, but he wasn’t, at least not that Diego could see. But what Diego could see was five suddenly standing by the doorframe, shocked as to what he was seeing. Diego caught Five’s eyes and was surprised to see concern in them, concern that was undoubtedly aimed at their crying brother. 

_Later_ Diego mouthed to him, knowing that Five wanted to know what was wrong with Klaus and who he had to kill to fix it, but now isn’t the time. Five nodded and blinked out of the room. 

“What do you say we go get some waffles? I think they are way overdue hmm?” 

Klaus smiled up at him through his tears and nodded, a genuine smile. Things are going to change that’s for sure. 

As Diego helped Klaus up from the chair and watched him rub at his eyes he couldn’t help but notice a sudden shyness in Klaus, he was so unused to kindness from his sibling. This made Diego angry with himself again but reminded himself that this isn’t going to be the way anymore. Klaus needs them all and he is determined to give Klaus everything he needs for his recovery. 

As they both turned towards the exit Klaus tugged on his brother’s arm and said gently, “Thank you Dee.” He had that smile back on his face. 

“Anything for you brother. Anything.” He smiled back at Klaus, “Now, I believe I promised you waffles?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopeeee that was not too terrible

**Author's Note:**

> I really have no idea where i'm going with this i just felt like writing another story.
> 
> Also if anyones interested in being spammed with TUA - bagofcats.tumblr.com


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